Don't forget to watch my other videos regarding the Epson ET-8550. ruclips.net/p/PLo219FKz6e4ruHw9B09PcWSGFp4EReB48 I like this printer a lot. It's not perfect in every aspect, but I'd give it 9.8 points out of 10. I can so far only say that if I had to buy a new printer today, I'd buy this one without blinking an eye or hesitate a split second.
Wonderful demonstration...thank you so much...can you please let me know from where you got the profile for ilford smooth pearl ?...i checked the official ilford website, but no profiles are listed for epson et 8550 / l 8180...have you tried printing on this pearl paper using the premium semigloss media setting and B&W mode ?...If Yes, then were their any noticeable differences in the final results ?
Fotospeed is providing ICC profiles if you buy papers from them. It's a UK based company, but they do ship world wide as far as I know. Other than that, I did test with some of the standard settings and for B&W it worked fine, using Epson ABW. For colour it is better use the ICC profile created for the paper, even if one of the Epson profiles work quite good as well.
Thanks for the prompt reply...it would be great if you could also let me know the difference that you observed on epson luster paper v/s ilford smooth pearl, on this particular printer...what made you prefer ilford against epson's own luster paper ?..As i can see in your other video, for large color prints you are using epson's premium glossy paper.
@@sharadsingh635 Oh, I am sorry, I misunderstood your question. I printed on Ilford paper using the Epson settings before I had the ICC profile for the Ilford paper. I never tested the Epson paper, so I can't comment on the differences between the papers. For colour I prefer Epson Premium Glossy. For B&W Ilford Galerie Pearl. I did test the Ilford also as colour, but my personal preference for colour prints is the high glossy finish.
Thanks once again for clarifying..i got the point...your series of videos regarding this printer, is really good...i appreciate the time you have taken out to describe the true functionality of et 8550...For those who understand the value of it, the et 8550/ L8180 is a really fantastic printer...the L805,810,850 and 1800 are quite pathetic for B&W prints with a sick color cast that is almost impossible to remove even after profiling....I have seen them all and personally own a L850....The et 8550 / L 8180 is a "Home run" straight out of the box..
Just a couple of more questions...Since how many months have you been using this printer and during this period what was the longest duration for which the printer sat idle i.e. no prints at all ? Did you face any frequent clogging issues where you had to run multiple print head cleaning cycles ?... I hope this is not an ink guzzler when you give cleaning cycles.
Hi, thank you for sharing the experience printing in black and white. I am also using Ilford paper for printing mainly in A3, but there are no ICC profiles available for this printer on the Ilford website, are ICC profiles of this printer available anywhere?
As far as I know, the ICC profile for the Ilford is not available free of charge anywhere, but it isn't that expensive to get it made for your paper, especially if you are using only one paper type. The British company Fotospeed can make it for you if you buy paper from them, and in that case it is free of charge, except that you have to pay for the paper and the shipping. The other alternative is to try one of the available ones and if you are happy, just create a copy and use that as Ilford.
Interesting video. I also have the ET-8850, unfortunately I, like a few others am experiencing colour casts, in my case slight Cyan. I would be keen to try the Galeria as used in your demo and I note that you have a 'Media Type' for Galerie listed in your settings (which I assume you created yourself). If so, can I ask which 'Base Media' you chose when creating the custom media type in EPL? What also intrigued me was your comment below that the ICC does not effect the outcome of Black and White only colour, I was not aware of this and plan to investigate this further. Thank you for producing such informative videos, much appreciated ☺
I think that the "secret" of successful black & white images without colour cast is to follow my work flow to the letter. 1. Calibrate the screen using some hardware. I am using X-rite Color Munki Display. 2. Use only original Epson inks. 3. Convert the image to black and white jpeg in Photoshop. Maybe other photo editors work just as well, I don't know. 4. Use Epson Print Layout Advanced B&W Photo utility and find the best settings. My settings most of the time: Colour toning: Fine adjustment, Tone: Dark, Horizontal: 0, Vertical: 0, Brightness: -2, Contrast -3, Shadow tonality: 0 Highlight Tonality -3, Max optical density: 0, Highlight point shift: 0. Of course, these depends on the image as well, but if your screen is properly calibrated you will see what different settings will do with your image. 5. Select a critical and important area, crop and make a test print on a small paper but with the same magnification as your final print will be. It is important that the test print is made on the same paper. This step is just for saving ink and paper. If you want, you can print full size also, but it meant you waste paper and ink if you are not happy and want to make some changes. 6. Use only branded paper, not some unknown cheap thing from a supermarket. I am not sure why people are experiencing colour cast, but I suspect that they are not following the above steps. As far as I know, the ICC profile doesn't matter for B&W, but the paper type does matter, since that is part of the printing process, and that controls also how much ink is sprayed on. My ICC profile is created by an external company. There are several companies who can make ICC profiles, but each paper must be profiled so using many different papers can be expensive and many times totally unnecessary. I am using Ilford Galerie Pearl and Epson Premium Glossy since I am happy with what I see when I print on these, but I have printed on other, nameless special type also, like canvas and magnetic types, and those gave me good results also. For B&W canvas, matte or pearl type of papers are the best, but even printing on glossy without colour cast according to my work flow.
Hi @@AdaptingCamera Thank you for the prompt and detailed reply, greatly appreciated. I am using genuine inks and use a Calibrite Colorchecker Studio to produce my own profiles (both colour and B&W). However, B&W is still a challenge, even with the profile and using Epson papers? I spoke to Tim Jones (technical) at Fotospeed earlier today and have ordered some paper from them. They will also provide a free profile for the paper once I have printed and sent them the chart. My results to date have been acceptable but not to the degree I am aiming for. I'll go through the process exactly as you descibed and let's see how that goes. I did read somewhere that Epson recommend letting the printer manage the process instead of profiles. However, as you know, EPL does the same thing and allows fine tuning if required. Once again, many thanks for your assistance.
@@MikeWare-Lane I don't know the Epson paper you tried, I printed B&W on Epson Premium Glossy and those turned out nice also, but I prefer the Ilford Galerie because B&W in my opinion looks better on pearl or matte paper. I hope you'll find the answer to your problems. Remember that calibrating the screen is the first and perhaps most important thing. One point I missed mentioning is the importance or checking the image under the light it is going to be viewed under when it is displayed. This is perhaps more important for colour images than B&W, but nevertheless, it is important. Hopefully you'll solve this somehow because the printer is really very nice in my opinion.
Adding new paper isn't a problem. You can do it in two ways, one is through Epson Print Layout, where you can add user type paper, for example if you have a specific paper and don't have the ICC profile, then you test which paper results in the best print, copy that paper and save it as "your" paper. After this, you can see that in the paper list, just like any other paper already in the list. I created paper type this way for old Kodak paper. The Ilford paper is been added through the ICC profile installation. Some paper brand offer ICC profiles also for this printer, others don't. In that case you have to buy that service or create your own if you can. Properly ICC profiled paper will give you the best print results. Though, for black and white printing, the ICC profile is not used, but the paper type must be correctly set, since the amount of ink sprayed depends on the paper type also, not just the ICC profile. In colour printing, both the paper type and the profile is important.
I think it will last at least 30 years if you print on quality paper but there is no real world data since the printer is new. I had it for about 9 months now which is too short, but I am pretty sure it will last longer than I'll live.
Hello again, this comment refers to my previous comment. In my previous comment, I was referring to the associated photo paper when I was talking about shipping and customs charges, not the ICC profiles, which are free anyway. Best regards, Daniel
Hello, I like your video and the images you printed. I would like to ask you for 3 things: 1) I think it would be very useful for other ET8550 (L8180) users, of which there are many all over the world, if you could make a video, where you would show exactly step by step how you created a new media type, for example Ilford Galerie Smooth Pearl that you already have. To show in the video from the beginning, when you test which paper results best prints, to the end, when you created a new media (Ilford Galerie Smooth Pearl) in EPL in Edith Custom Media. 2) You probably tested here which setting of already existing media types is most suitable when printing on Ilford Galerie Smooth Pearl paper. Did you find here that the best setting is Epson Premium Semi-glossy or Epson Premium Glossy or Epson Matte or what? Please, if you can answer this question before make the video, if you can make it! I would like to create a media type for Epson Premia Luster paper, which is missing from the Media Type dropdown menu, although it exists in the ICC Profiles dropdown menu. Silly that Epson made this mistake and doesn't fix it with updates. 3) I would also like to mention ICC profiles. I found only 4 suppliers of ICC profiles for ET 8550 on the Internet. These are the French Canson, the English Fotospeed and the American Red River and Moab. Canson is the most affordable. Unfortunately, the other three are unfavorable for Europeans due to high shipping costs and customs duties. German Hahnemule and English Ilford do not have ICC profiles for ET8550. Maybe you know any other manufacturer with ICC? Thanks for everything and I wish you successful new videos! Daniel
Thank you for your comment. 1) Currently I have no plans or time for a new video. How to create custom media type is in my opinion self explanatory once you start using the EPL software and the printer. Also the printer manual contains information about custom paper. 2) Sorry, I don't remember which settings I tested the Ilford paper with. I will see what I can find out later when I have more time, but it's easy to test, just set the type you like and print one 4 x 6" (100 x 150 cm) small test image. If you are happy with the colours then everything is fine. For Epson Premia Luster paper I suggest you contact Epson Support and ask them. Here is a link where you can find more ICC profiles for this printer: epson.ca/Support/Printers/All-In-Ones/ET-Series/Epson-ET-8550/s/SPT_C11CJ21201#drivers 3) If you want to create your own ICC profile you need to buy a tool for that. It's pretty expensive, so I suggest you contact an independent company which can supply ICC profile for you. It's really not that expensive, but you need to pay per paper type. There is no other way to do it. Fotospeed is not that expensive and they do it even if you live are outside UK. I live in Sweden and compared with Swedish prices. You could also ask Keith Cooper, or check his site out, in case he has the ICC profiles you want, or can do it for you.
I think keith cooper would be your go to guy on this, or perhaps senior jose rodriguez as well. He has been testing this for a while now and he has different paper when he tested and made an icc on those different media...Hope this helps. Currently here in the asia region(were i live) we have the L8180....
@@silentkillermd I don't think Keith will create any ICC profiles for you, unless he already created it during his tests. He does not own this printer, only received it for a test so he can't create any ICC profiles any more. Also, as far as I remember, he was saying that he have seen some colour cast when printing B&W with this printer, which may be true, but I am convinced that he made some mistake in his tests. My printer definitely shows no colour cast at all, that's for sure. Fotospeed is a better bet, they create profiles for this printer, but not for free. Anyway, if you plan using it with the same paper then it is worth paying for the profile.
@@AdaptingCamera Thanks for this, yup, he did some test though but not as detailed the other gent from the states, i am still trying my hands on those really good photo papers, since we don't have it here were i'm at, nearest would be singapore and amazon(US). I have the color munki(X-rite) so, basically, i can make a profile, but busy just like you(My day job), so even weekends i don't have that luxury either. Thanks for putting up this videos. I really like those print of yours. Stay safe mate.
Hi and thanks for the video. I have the same printer and the b&w neutrality really depends on the paper. Same papers are more neutral then others. In my testing the most neutral is the Epson velvet fine art with advanced b&w mode. I’m also testing some Fotospeed paper and some of them print slightly bluish with b&w mode. with some experimentation is probably fixable with the tint correction in the advanced b&w mode.
Don't forget to watch my other videos regarding the Epson ET-8550. ruclips.net/p/PLo219FKz6e4ruHw9B09PcWSGFp4EReB48 I like this printer a lot. It's not perfect in every aspect, but I'd give it 9.8 points out of 10. I can so far only say that if I had to buy a new printer today, I'd buy this one without blinking an eye or hesitate a split second.
Thank you very much for your video, I solved my color cast issues by replicating what you do. Thank you very much!
Thank you very much for your comment. I am glad it solved your colour cast issues.
Wonderful demonstration...thank you so much...can you please let me know from where you got the profile for ilford smooth pearl ?...i checked the official ilford website, but no profiles are listed for epson et 8550 / l 8180...have you tried printing on this pearl paper using the premium semigloss media setting and B&W mode ?...If Yes, then were their any noticeable differences in the final results ?
Fotospeed is providing ICC profiles if you buy papers from them. It's a UK based company, but they do ship world wide as far as I know. Other than that, I did test with some of the standard settings and for B&W it worked fine, using Epson ABW. For colour it is better use the ICC profile created for the paper, even if one of the Epson profiles work quite good as well.
Thanks for the prompt reply...it would be great if you could also let me know the difference that you observed on epson luster paper v/s ilford smooth pearl, on this particular printer...what made you prefer ilford against epson's own luster paper ?..As i can see in your other video, for large color prints you are using epson's premium glossy paper.
@@sharadsingh635 Oh, I am sorry, I misunderstood your question. I printed on Ilford paper using the Epson settings before I had the ICC profile for the Ilford paper. I never tested the Epson paper, so I can't comment on the differences between the papers. For colour I prefer Epson Premium Glossy. For B&W Ilford Galerie Pearl. I did test the Ilford also as colour, but my personal preference for colour prints is the high glossy finish.
Thanks once again for clarifying..i got the point...your series of videos regarding this printer, is really good...i appreciate the time you have taken out to describe the true functionality of et 8550...For those who understand the value of it, the et 8550/ L8180 is a really fantastic printer...the L805,810,850 and 1800 are quite pathetic for B&W prints with a sick color cast that is almost impossible to remove even after profiling....I have seen them all and personally own a L850....The et 8550 / L 8180 is a "Home run" straight out of the box..
Just a couple of more questions...Since how many months have you been using this printer and during this period what was the longest duration for which the printer sat idle i.e. no prints at all ? Did you face any frequent clogging issues where you had to run multiple print head cleaning cycles ?... I hope this is not an ink guzzler when you give cleaning cycles.
Hi, thank you for sharing the experience printing in black and white. I am also using Ilford paper for printing mainly in A3, but there are no ICC profiles available for this printer on the Ilford website, are ICC profiles of this printer available anywhere?
As far as I know, the ICC profile for the Ilford is not available free of charge anywhere, but it isn't that expensive to get it made for your paper, especially if you are using only one paper type. The British company Fotospeed can make it for you if you buy paper from them, and in that case it is free of charge, except that you have to pay for the paper and the shipping. The other alternative is to try one of the available ones and if you are happy, just create a copy and use that as Ilford.
Interesting video. I also have the ET-8850, unfortunately I, like a few others am experiencing colour casts, in my case slight Cyan. I would be keen to try the Galeria as used in your demo and I note that you have a 'Media Type' for Galerie listed in your settings (which I assume you created yourself). If so, can I ask which 'Base Media' you chose when creating the custom media type in EPL? What also intrigued me was your comment below that the ICC does not effect the outcome of Black and White only colour, I was not aware of this and plan to investigate this further. Thank you for producing such informative videos, much appreciated ☺
I think that the "secret" of successful black & white images without colour cast is to follow my work flow to the letter.
1. Calibrate the screen using some hardware. I am using X-rite Color Munki Display.
2. Use only original Epson inks.
3. Convert the image to black and white jpeg in Photoshop. Maybe other photo editors work just as well, I don't know.
4. Use Epson Print Layout Advanced B&W Photo utility and find the best settings. My settings most of the time: Colour toning: Fine adjustment, Tone: Dark, Horizontal: 0, Vertical: 0, Brightness: -2, Contrast -3, Shadow tonality: 0 Highlight Tonality -3, Max optical density: 0, Highlight point shift: 0. Of course, these depends on the image as well, but if your screen is properly calibrated you will see what different settings will do with your image.
5. Select a critical and important area, crop and make a test print on a small paper but with the same magnification as your final print will be. It is important that the test print is made on the same paper. This step is just for saving ink and paper. If you want, you can print full size also, but it meant you waste paper and ink if you are not happy and want to make some changes.
6. Use only branded paper, not some unknown cheap thing from a supermarket.
I am not sure why people are experiencing colour cast, but I suspect that they are not following the above steps. As far as I know, the ICC profile doesn't matter for B&W, but the paper type does matter, since that is part of the printing process, and that controls also how much ink is sprayed on. My ICC profile is created by an external company. There are several companies who can make ICC profiles, but each paper must be profiled so using many different papers can be expensive and many times totally unnecessary. I am using Ilford Galerie Pearl and Epson Premium Glossy since I am happy with what I see when I print on these, but I have printed on other, nameless special type also, like canvas and magnetic types, and those gave me good results also. For B&W canvas, matte or pearl type of papers are the best, but even printing on glossy without colour cast according to my work flow.
Hi @@AdaptingCamera Thank you for the prompt and detailed reply, greatly appreciated. I am using genuine inks and use a Calibrite Colorchecker Studio to produce my own profiles (both colour and B&W). However, B&W is still a challenge, even with the profile and using Epson papers?
I spoke to Tim Jones (technical) at Fotospeed earlier today and have ordered some paper from them. They will also provide a free profile for the paper once I have printed and sent them the chart. My results to date have been acceptable but not to the degree I am aiming for. I'll go through the process exactly as you descibed and let's see how that goes. I did read somewhere that Epson recommend letting the printer manage the process instead of profiles. However, as you know, EPL does the same thing and allows fine tuning if required. Once again, many thanks for your assistance.
@@MikeWare-Lane I don't know the Epson paper you tried, I printed B&W on Epson Premium Glossy and those turned out nice also, but I prefer the Ilford Galerie because B&W in my opinion looks better on pearl or matte paper. I hope you'll find the answer to your problems. Remember that calibrating the screen is the first and perhaps most important thing. One point I missed mentioning is the importance or checking the image under the light it is going to be viewed under when it is displayed. This is perhaps more important for colour images than B&W, but nevertheless, it is important. Hopefully you'll solve this somehow because the printer is really very nice in my opinion.
i thought you can't add any new paper type to a printer, how did you get the ILFORD paper type ( i'm not talking about the ICC profile) in the list?
Adding new paper isn't a problem. You can do it in two ways, one is through Epson Print Layout, where you can add user type paper, for example if you have a specific paper and don't have the ICC profile, then you test which paper results in the best print, copy that paper and save it as "your" paper. After this, you can see that in the paper list, just like any other paper already in the list. I created paper type this way for old Kodak paper. The Ilford paper is been added through the ICC profile installation. Some paper brand offer ICC profiles also for this printer, others don't. In that case you have to buy that service or create your own if you can. Properly ICC profiled paper will give you the best print results. Though, for black and white printing, the ICC profile is not used, but the paper type must be correctly set, since the amount of ink sprayed depends on the paper type also, not just the ICC profile. In colour printing, both the paper type and the profile is important.
Nice print on the parliament!(Budapest)
Thank you.
I was wondering how long the color will last without fading? Is there any way to preserve the color from being faded by oxidation. Thank you so much!
I think it will last at least 30 years if you print on quality paper but there is no real world data since the printer is new. I had it for about 9 months now which is too short, but I am pretty sure it will last longer than I'll live.
@@AdaptingCamera Thank you so much for your response and gave me confidence to buy this printer
ile można z tyłu maksymalnie położyć arkuszy A3? Ile można do kasety włożyć a4?
The number of arks you can fill the printer with is in the manual. I don't know the answer. Please read the manual if it is important for you.
Hello again,
this comment refers to my previous comment.
In my previous comment, I was referring to the associated photo paper when I was talking about shipping and customs charges, not the ICC profiles, which are free anyway.
Best regards,
Daniel
The ICC profiles are normally free only if you buy paper from them.
Hello,
I like your video and the images you printed. I would like to ask you for 3 things:
1) I think it would be very useful for other ET8550 (L8180) users, of which there are many all over the world, if you could make a video, where you would show exactly step by step how you created a new media type, for example Ilford Galerie Smooth Pearl that you already have. To show in the video from the beginning, when you test which paper results best prints, to the end, when you created a new media (Ilford Galerie Smooth Pearl) in EPL in Edith Custom Media.
2) You probably tested here which setting of already existing media types is most suitable when printing on Ilford Galerie Smooth Pearl paper. Did you find here that the best setting is Epson Premium Semi-glossy or Epson Premium Glossy or Epson Matte or what? Please, if you can answer this question before make the video, if you can make it!
I would like to create a media type for Epson Premia Luster paper, which is missing from the Media Type dropdown menu, although it exists in the ICC Profiles dropdown menu. Silly that Epson made this mistake and doesn't fix it with updates.
3) I would also like to mention ICC profiles. I found only 4 suppliers of ICC profiles for ET 8550 on the Internet. These are the French Canson, the English Fotospeed and the American Red River and Moab. Canson is the most affordable. Unfortunately, the other three are unfavorable for Europeans due to high shipping costs and customs duties. German Hahnemule and English Ilford do not have ICC profiles for ET8550. Maybe you know any other manufacturer with ICC?
Thanks for everything and I wish you successful new videos!
Daniel
Thank you for your comment.
1) Currently I have no plans or time for a new video. How to create custom media type is in my opinion self explanatory once you start using the EPL software and the printer. Also the printer manual contains information about custom paper.
2) Sorry, I don't remember which settings I tested the Ilford paper with. I will see what I can find out later when I have more time, but it's easy to test, just set the type you like and print one 4 x 6" (100 x 150 cm) small test image. If you are happy with the colours then everything is fine. For Epson Premia Luster paper I suggest you contact Epson Support and ask them. Here is a link where you can find more ICC profiles for this printer: epson.ca/Support/Printers/All-In-Ones/ET-Series/Epson-ET-8550/s/SPT_C11CJ21201#drivers
3) If you want to create your own ICC profile you need to buy a tool for that. It's pretty expensive, so I suggest you contact an independent company which can supply ICC profile for you. It's really not that expensive, but you need to pay per paper type. There is no other way to do it. Fotospeed is not that expensive and they do it even if you live are outside UK. I live in Sweden and compared with Swedish prices. You could also ask Keith Cooper, or check his site out, in case he has the ICC profiles you want, or can do it for you.
I think keith cooper would be your go to guy on this, or perhaps senior jose rodriguez as well. He has been testing this for a while now and he has different paper when he tested and made an icc on those different media...Hope this helps. Currently here in the asia region(were i live) we have the L8180....
@@silentkillermd I don't think Keith will create any ICC profiles for you, unless he already created it during his tests. He does not own this printer, only received it for a test so he can't create any ICC profiles any more. Also, as far as I remember, he was saying that he have seen some colour cast when printing B&W with this printer, which may be true, but I am convinced that he made some mistake in his tests. My printer definitely shows no colour cast at all, that's for sure. Fotospeed is a better bet, they create profiles for this printer, but not for free. Anyway, if you plan using it with the same paper then it is worth paying for the profile.
@@AdaptingCamera Thanks for this, yup, he did some test though but not as detailed the other gent from the states, i am still trying my hands on those really good photo papers, since we don't have it here were i'm at, nearest would be singapore and amazon(US). I have the color munki(X-rite) so, basically, i can make a profile, but busy just like you(My day job), so even weekends i don't have that luxury either. Thanks for putting up this videos. I really like those print of yours. Stay safe mate.
Hi and thanks for the video. I have the same printer and the b&w neutrality really depends on the paper. Same papers are more neutral then others. In my testing the most neutral is the Epson velvet fine art with advanced b&w mode. I’m also testing some Fotospeed paper and some of them print slightly bluish with b&w mode. with some experimentation is probably fixable with the tint correction in the advanced b&w mode.
can this printer do borderless printing?
Yes.